Count To Ten
by Shadow Padawan
Summary: Three times Bella resorts to the old "counting to ten" trick.


The dark halls of Hogwarts were quiet and still, aside from the mewing of Filch's rag-tag cat. Bellatrix was almost afraid to breath. She could feel Antonin next to her but she couldn't really see him in the dark. "Tony, where are we—"

"Shhh. I want to show you something." He grabbed her hand and pulled her around a corner and then another, up a staircase. Bellatrix found herself at the top of one of the towers, on a balcony overlooking the grounds. The night sky was clear and its expanse loomed overhead; the outline of the Forbidden Forest was a stark deep black mass on the horizon. "_Accio_ broom," Antonin whispered, flicking his wand. Several moments later, his broom came floating through the balcony arch and into his hand. Antonin grinned roguishly and turned to Bellatrix. "Well, get on."

"What about you? Antonin, I demand to know what we're doing!" Bellatrix hissed, arms crossed over her chest defiantly.

"I'm going on behind you. Hush, you'll get us caught by that awful cat. I told you, it's a surprise." Antonin held out the broom to her.

Bellatrix mounted it, still pouting slightly. Antonin got on behind her and put his arms around her waist and reached forward to put his hands over hers on the broom. They lifted off and soared out over the grounds and toward the Forbidden Forest. After a few minutes, Antonin slowed the broom and they hung there in the night sky, surrounded by starts.

"So, what did you want to show me?" Bellatrix asked. She looked back at him, her black curls swiping over his face as she turned. He was smirking.

"Look." He pointed ahead of her.

Bellatrix turned; her eyes widened marginally. In the sky, far away but close enough to be seen in all their bright glory, were a dozen shooting stars. They fell from the sky and streaked down to the ground. "Merlin!" She laughed, the sound ringing throughout the grounds. "Lets go closer!" Bella yanked at the broom and sent it forward, spurring it on toward the light.

"Make a wish!" Antonin called behind her, his arms secure around her and still firmly on the broom.

Bella closed her eyes and smiled, breathing in the night air. She had too many wishes in her head to choose just one so she just made all of them, in hopes that one might come true. When she opened her eyes, the last of the shooting stars were falling to the horizon. Antonin pulled the broom down and touched down right before the tree line of the Forbidden Forrest. Bella turned in his arms sideways to look at him. "Antonin, how did you know?"

"I just knew," he said smugly, eyes dancing.

"Are you a seer?"

He laughed. "Do I look like Trelawney?"

Bellatrix giggled. "No."

"Close your eyes and count to ten."

"Why? Another surprise?"

"Perhaps."

She pouted again but didn't bother protesting, just closed her eyes and began to count. "One, two, three, four—"

His lips found hers before she could even get half way. He kissed her rapturously, pressing their bodies close together. She kissed him back, one hand going to twine in his wavy hair. When he pulled back just enough to press his forehead to hers, she opened her eyes half way and looked up at him through her eyelashes. "That was one of the things I wished for."

He smiled softly, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly, threatening to turn it into a smirk. "What was the other thing?"

"For Tom to finally declare war. So we can set the world right again."

* * *

Bellatrix held her wand in a tight grip, looking around wearily, her ears sensitive to every rustle and echo. She had sent a Patronus to Headquarters half and hour ago but there had been no answer yet. The mission had fallen prey to an ambush and she had been separated from her group. She knew there were Aurors all around the perimeter and her wand was malfunctioning, hit earlier by some curse. She'd thrown back her hood because it was obstructing her peripheral vision. Back pressed against a crumbling pillar, she began to slowly, carefully, cast a string of spells that would crumble the anti-apparition ward the Aurors had set up. She supposed there couldn't be more than five left behind and they wouldn't notice the cracks at first. She knew that once they sensed the destructive magic, they could follow it to her but she would take that chance. She would fight them, if she had to. With pleasure.

Bellatrix was through her third string of breaking curses when the voices and footsteps reached her ears. The field was now weak but she wouldn't be able to get through a complete set of Breakers before they reached her. "Somewhere down here!" one of the Aurors was shouting. She could hear them knocking down doors at the end of the hall of the now-ransacked Peterson estate.

Bellatrix steadied her wand and took several breaths. She was waiting for them to come closer so her element of surprise would have more effect. Closing her eyes, she began to count. _One, two, three, four, five, six, seven—_

She was suddenly accosted by a feeling of lightness and only then realized that that was how it felt when an anti-apparition field was lifted. Her eyes snapped open and she prepared herself for an attack…only to hear a soft, barely audible pop before Antonin's figure appeared before her.

"Dolohov! What took you so long?" she asked, aiming for a teasing, irritated tone but managing to only sound relieved.

"You're hard to find, Black," Antonin threw back, casting several reinforcement charms at the door.

"I didn't think you'd be the one to come," Bella said quietly, watching his face carefully.

Antonin looked at her briefly, before returning his gaze back to the door, head tilted slightly as he listened to the Aurors' babble outside. "Why not?"

"You've barely spoken to me since Roddy and I…since the wedding."

Antonin turned to her sharply, regarding her with emotionless eyes that made her shiver. He didn't use to look at her that way. After a few moments, Antonin seemed to deflate. "Your marriage is irrelevant." He grabbed her arm tightly. "We need to get back to Base before they find us or put the Field back up."

"I lov—" she started, but was cut off by the tug and whirl of the apparition.

* * *

The trial wasn't very long, but to Bellatrix it seemed to last forever. All those people she hated and despised and held in contempt were staring down at her as though she was some sort of scum when they were the lowly ones. The Wizengomot was crowded, as though these people had nothing better to do than to gawk. Rodolphus was stoic beside her as their sentences were read; Barty was shaking so hard she wasn't sure if he might be having a seizure. She wasn't hearing a single word, however. Her mind could not grasp the idea, the concept, of Azkaban. Surely not for her, for them. They fought for the Truth. She was too pure for that place.

Antonin's face came to her mind and she wondered if she would ever see him again. The rumor was that he'd been captured as well and already sentenced. She couldn't believe that. Dolohov had always known how to get out of any mess; he was most likely here, waiting for the perfect opportunity to snag her and take her away.

_"Count to ten:" _

She closed her eyes and began to count as memories washed over her, sending chills and heat waves crashing through her.

_One._ Kissing Tony after the meteor shower.

_Two._ The bouquet of flowers he sent her on their graduation night.

_Three._ The virginal white summer dress she wore that first summer after they graduated and the way he undressed her with his eyes.

_Four._ The way Tony's hands felt on her bare skin, and his lips on her breasts.

_Five._ How he had looked the night he was Marked and how beautiful she had felt when she had showed her own Mark to him.

_Six._ The wedding and how her heart had broken and how she had forced it to mend again.

_Seven._ Tony dueling with an Auror. Tony training the boys.

_Eight._ Watching Antonin kiss Eleanor Bonfante's hand and feeling a stinging sense of jealousy she should have left behind long ago.

_Nine._ The night Tony had come to save her from the Aurors and then kissed her bruising in the empty hallways of Headquarters.

_Ten… _

Bella opened her eyes, frantically scanning the crowed for Antonin's familiar face among the blurred, lifeless faces of her enemies.

He wasn't there.


End file.
